This invention relates to gas turbine engines, and more particularly to convergent/divergent exhaust nozzles for gas turbine engines.
A well developed art exists in the field of turbine engine nozzles. U.S. Pat. No. 6,398,129 discloses an exemplary prior art nozzle. That exemplary nozzle is an axisymmetric nozzle having an array of flap pairs: a convergent flap upstream and a divergent flap downstream. The divergent flaps may be articulated through a variety of orientations associated with modes of the engine. The exemplary divergent flap includes, in longitudinal section, a continuously curving convex upstream portion of a given radius of curvature and one or more straight portions downstream. During articulation of the flap between modes, the instantaneous aerodynamic throat of the nozzle will occur at a location along the upstream portion.